You're Number 1!

My mother was a brilliant, talented woman.

She prided herself in being the best at whatever she did.

And it seems that was a theme in her life,

since she so often "came in first".

She was the first girl in her family,

arriving on December 10, 1919.

Very soon thereafter, she became the

big sister when baby girl Geneva was born.

Mother was first, but she had to start sharing the

attention before she'd hardly passed her first birthday.

And from day one, she had a very competitive

little sister nipping at her heels.

In fact, she and Geneva graduated from high school

in the same class of 1937.

She was the first in the entire extended family to celebrate

December 10th as her day...UNTIL in 2009, 

great-grandson Sawyer Kris Mulkey arrived , 

on her 90th birthday.

From then on, GG shared her birthday with Sawyer.

And as we know, little ones tend to get

most of the attention.

2014 was a challenging year for my family.

Throughout the year, Mother's health continued to decline. 

Her last two months were spent in hospice care,

and she died on July 20th.

There was hardly time for me to fully grieve her leaving

because Rob's health was so much the focus.

 He died five months to the day,

December 20th.

Throughout her life, and even in death, 

Mother has so often had to share the spotlight.

So, today I want to shine that light

fully on her.

Thank you for being the 
first and only,

mother I've ever had!

I love 
and 
miss you.